Trinitroethyl acrylate



United States Patent 2,994,714 TRINITROETHY L A'CRYLATE Robert H.Saunders, West Chester, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to theUnited States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy NoDrawing. Filed May 7, 1952, Ser. No. 286,603 1 Claim. (Cl. 260486) Thisinvention relates to a new explosive compound, trinitroethyl acrylate.

The new compound of the invention is a liquid at room temperature. It isof particular interest as a polymerizable, high explosive monomer. Ithas further utility as an intermediate in the preparation offl-trinitroethyl-ytrinitrobutyrate, a new explosive compound disclosedand claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 286,601 filed May 7,1952.

It is an object of the invention to provide a new compound,trinitroethyl acrylate.

The new compound was prepared by reacting acrylyl chloride withtrinitroethanol.

The invention is illustrated by the following example, but is notlimited thereto.

Example 1.81 grams of trinitroethanol and a slight excess of acrylylchloride were heated for 3 hours at 57 C., then 2,994,714 Patented Aug.1, 1961 distilled at a low pressure to remove the excess chloride. Thecrude material, which was probably contaminated with trinitroethanol,had a boiling point range of 7090 C. at /2 mm. pressure.

The compound has the following formula:

The pure compound has an oxygen balance of -31. It has an impactsensitivity of 45, as determined with the Bureau of Mines impactmachine, this figure being the distance in centimeters a 2 kilogramweight was required t6 fall in order to produce shots.

It is thus seen that there has been provided a new explosive compoundhaving utility as a polymerizable, high explosive monomer and as anintermediate in the preparation o-f S-tn'nitroethyl- -trinitrobutyrate.

What is claimed is:

Trinitroethyl acrylate having the following structural formula:

No references cited.

